FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female employees who say they were harassed by her former chief of staff. Current chief of staff Timothy Daly says the Democratic congresswoman on Thursday, March 29, 2018, also personally repaid the federal government $5,000 in severance paid to now-fired Tony Baker. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) less

FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington about bipartisan legislation on gun safety. Esty is apologizing for failing to protect female ... more

Photo: Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press

Image 4 of 7

Tony Baker was fired as Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s chief of staff in 2016 following allegations of sexual harassment, but was given a positive recommendation and went on to work for Sandy Hook Promise. He left Sandy Hook Promise on Monday March 26, 2018. less

Tony Baker was fired as Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s chief of staff in 2016 following allegations of sexual harassment, but was given a positive recommendation and went on to work for Sandy Hook Promise. He left ... more

Office of U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty in New Britain, Conn., on Friday Mar. 30, 2018. A former staff member for U.S. Rep. Esty said she was punched, screamed at and threatened with death by the congresswoman's then chief of staff, Tony Baker. After being fired in 2016, Baker went to work for Sandy Hook Promise on Esty's recommendation. less

Office of U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty in New Britain, Conn., on Friday Mar. 30, 2018. A former staff member for U.S. Rep. Esty said she was punched, screamed at and threatened with death by the congresswoman's ... more

DANBURY - The lesson to take from U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s mishandling of the case of her chief of staff, who was accused of abusing a female employee, is the need for more vigilance about workplace harassment, observers said.

“The whole situation is and should be a wake-up call to all employers in every possible setting, sending out the word that intimidation, harassment and violence of any kind should never be tolerated,” said Patricia Zachman, the president and CEO of the Danbury-based Women’s Center. “Any employer’s failure to respond appropriately can and will have serious consequences, as the congresswoman is learning very much the hard way.”

Esty’s surprise decision on Monday to drop her campaign for a fourth term as a result of her mistake was being treated as a cautionary tale by activists and educators.

“What has happened to Elizabeth Esty should make everybody aware of how important it is to be proactive, and how important it is to have strong laws about sexual harassment that protect workers,” said Marcy May, a professor of history at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. “The way she handled this is disturbing; she was aware of a public action by her staff chief that he harassed a woman, and he continued to be employed by her.”

Related Stories

Esty’s precipitous withdrawal from the midterm election campaign came in the wake of reports by Hearst Connecticut Media that she gave her chief of staff, Tony Baker, a glowing job recommendation despite his threatening behavior toward a young woman named Anna Kain, whom he dated while working in Esty’s Washington, D.C., office. Baker eventually got a new position with Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise.

Esty, a three-term Democrat who has been an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual harassment and abuse, said she was wrong to follow an attorney’s recommendation that she negotiate a severance deal with Baker. The 2016 deal included a nondisclosure agreement barring Esty from disparaging him, and a recommendation letter in which Esty praises “his devotion to his work and setting high performance standards,” among other accolades.

Esty signed that letter three months after Kain told Esty that Baker had punched her in the back, threatened to kill her, and had been restrained in a court order from contacting her. Esty had also learned through her own investigation that Baker had, in Esty’s words “victimized many of the women on my staff.”

Nonetheless, when Sandy Hook Promise called Esty’s office about whether Baker would be a good hire for the nonprofit’s Ohio state office, Esty recommended him, she told Hearst Connecticut Media.

Baker was recently fired by Sandy Hook Promise, which has refused to comment on the scandal.

Esty suggested part of the problem was the lack of standard workplace protections in Congress.

An advocate said that was no excuse for a lawmaker such as Esty who is well attuned to the plight sexual harassment victims.

“It should not be confusing - the laws are in place and the support networks are there,” said Glori Norwitt, an activist and the chairperson of the Women’s Center board of directors. “If a company or an employer doesn’t know what to do, there are social service agencies such as the Women’s Center that can offer quick and professional assistance.”

An academic expert said it was ironic for a lawmaker such as Esty, who has been so outspoken in the fight against sexual harassment and abuse, to be so inept in protecting her own staff from workplace hostility.

“I do think that it is demonstrative of the cognitive dissonance between our behavior as individuals and our behavior as elected leaders who are champions of a cause,” said Howell Williams, assistant professor of political science at Western Connecticut State University, who had scheduled Esty to speak to his class on Thursday.

Esty on Monday cancelled local appearances, including Williams’ class and a town hall meeting on Thursday in Newtown.

“There was a disconnect between the behavior of the congresswoman as an individual responsible for maintaining a safe workplace environment, and the policies and speeches she made on the same issue,” Williams said. “Those two identities did not fuse in the same body.”